That all is part of any background that anyone taking a loss of no worth has to have. It's called reasonableness and required documentation for anyone who may want to claim this as no worth. If the IRS comes back on someone, they will need good substantiation of why and how it was done. Then even if they still don't allow it, it can fall over to legal rejection of the IRS decision all the way into a tax court. With the proper documentations and enormous amount due diligence, the odds are statistically for the normal Joe/Jane taxpayer. Those judges are not the IRS.
I understand the lack of mental or emotional ability to be able to listen to posters that have some knowledge and state certain facts about Global Locks, SEC issues, the process of security transfer processes, etc with BEHL. Even though for years now, those posters were right, those posts steered one into a right direction and all the projections went true. It is common for those same abilities to continue to go to the sources that were wrong, directed the public into losses and fraud, but are more acceptable or copasetic to false hopes and dreams.
Talking to a "professional" is a good thing to do and suggested, but is filled with it's own problems, and must entail proper DD into who or which professional to enlist. There is a good portion of so called "professionals" that know no more than the standard speeches of saving their asses of any liability or have lack of knowledge or experience of the subject matter. It gets pretty complex, very time consuming, and can evolve into more complexity with any retirement tax issues. For the most part and most people the time and cost is not worth the tax deduction. For ones who have so much into something like BEHL that amounts to the worth of time just has made the mistakes close to the magnitude of buying more of this POS at this point of time. Small trades of this thing at .0001 and below surely have no bearing on the legal validity of no worth, it's just not that simplistic.
I don't have any positions here, and I don't ever have some sub worth penny crud in any position where it would make any difference in my tax position if it went to no worth such as BEHL has. At least not worth the time it takes for the little tax worth it may have. And I sure don't mess with retirement vehicles for penny trading. But I did mention the scenario to a good friend of mine who is a tax professional who does nothing but security issues for big money (doesn't really deal with low level investors of penny crud). We sure weren't going to spend our play time discussing it much, but the bottom line was that it was possible to claim it as no worth, but would involve all the complexities mentioned, and more.
The odds are that if one did claim it, the IRS isn't even going to take a second look unless there were other factors in the specific person's tax position to warrant the IRS coming in. They just don't have the resources or time to focus on everything. But that is not a recommendation for just doing it without doing all the necessary steps in backing up one's position with it and at least attempting to do it legally.
I am however strongly recommending that no one buy anymore of BEHL just because they can. That would be IMO a very foolish and imprudent, ill-advised thing to do. I don't believe the insanity defense is applicable here.
